Opening game, American Tycoon

Whether it was Fisher or Mahan, what they didn't know was that a piece of information had been sent from London three days before the United Fleet's attack.

And in the next three days, the empire carried out some kind of all-round mobilization-first, the empire dispatched more than 500 airships, about 40% of which were exchanged with bombers from France and Rome.Then, according to the plan, the navy divided the waters south of the equator in the Atlantic Ocean into countless small squares, and each square was searched by a warning airship.

And as early as the outbreak of the war, the empire built more than 3000 watchtowers on all coastlines on both sides of the empire, and each watchtower was guarded by 6 people in turn. All watchtowers were equipped with telephones and high-powered binoculars. Of course, The empire also spawned a large number of guard ships.

Not only that, even though the merchant fleets sailing at sea did not undertake the task of searching at sea, they would still actively undertake the task of searching when they were sailing at sea.

Although the cargo ship "French Princess" is flying a Venezuelan merchant flag, in fact, the company it belongs to is an overseas company of the Datang Merchant Shipping Bureau. The Bureau of Merchant Shipping reached a secret agreement. The Bureau of Merchant Shipping registered a new shipping company in Venezuela and sent dozens of merchant ships to transport materials. It was through these merchant ships from "neutral countries" that the empire was able to transport millions of tons of materials to Europe. , shipped to France.

As usual, the "French Princess" loaded with a ship of cloth, flour, beef and other materials, after leaving Huizhou Port, headed north, and they will sail directly to France.When merchant ships crossed the equator, as usual, the crew stood on the side with binoculars and searched the sea.

"This is the responsibility of each of us, even if we are not from Daming."

As the captain, Ding Deyong said solemnly.

"The premise of victory is to obtain first-hand intelligence! We have discovered the enemy's ship and reported the information to the imperial military, so that the imperial military can make corresponding deployments. Thus winning the war."

First officer Li Fan nodded, agreeing with this point.

"Yes, so in this war, each of us must do our best!"

In fact, they never undertook the task of alerting and searching, but they still took the initiative to undertake this responsibility.All of this fully demonstrates the achievements of the empire's decades of hard work: the empire has established and perfected a whole set of national systems, and the people of Ming Dynasty not only have the concept of a country, but also have become modern citizens.

"I remember when I was studying at the Merchant Marine School, the teacher once said that the difference between a modern country and an ignorant country is that the former is essentially composed of modern citizens with the concept of a country, and it is first reflected in the national mobilization system. come out."

When it comes to "modern citizens", Ding Deyong looks a little smug.

"From this point of view, it is not a big miracle that the empire was able to repeatedly defeat Chile, Argentina, and the Brazilian empire at that time, because after stripping off the packaging of modern material civilization, the Brazilian empire was still a backward and ignorant slavery empire. Everything is just operating according to the hobbies of the emperor and his few confidants. The purpose of governing the country is just to rule the common people. The purpose has nothing to do with the country, let alone the people. It's just a means. Although there are a few talents among the officials and governors, most of them are mediocre, even stupid, and can even be said to be stupid, so the failure of the Brazilians is not very unexpected. , but the empire has been able to mobilize the whole people to fight a war, although the empire is more crushed by military technology in the war, but this mobilization ability itself is the key to their victory in the war."

Put down the binoculars in your hands and look at the vast sea. Compared with soldiers who like to look at issues from a military perspective, politicians like to look at issues from a political perspective. As a merchant captain, Ding Deyong prefers to look at issues from other perspectives.

"So in my opinion, rather than saying that the empire is a military victory, it is better to say that it is a systematic victory, or a national victory!"

"A national victory?"

When Li Fan was surprised, he heard the captain say again.

"Yes, it is the victory of the people, the victory of the unity of the country and the people!"

Nodding his head, Ding Deyong's expression became more and more serious. He looked at the crew members on the ship who were from Datang like him, and then said.

"That's why I say that what China needs most now is not just the army, factories, and fleets, but education. When the national education is successful, the country will naturally succeed, otherwise... Datang is just the second It’s all about Tartarism! In fact, this is also the biggest difference between Ming Dynasty and Tang Dynasty.”

Eyelids slightly lowered to look at the ups and downs of the sea.Only after coming to this country will you discover the difference between this country and Datang.

Perhaps in the past ten years, Datang has built factories and schools, but what?Datang is still the place where the soup is changed but the medicine is not changed.Everything in the family has actually never changed. The so-called change of dynasty is just a change of flag. There has never been much difference between the Tang Dynasty and the Qin Dynasty. It is nothing more than a Manchu emperor replaced by a Han emperor. .

Does such a country have a future?
"That's why... the captain thinks that Datang is still a country of ignorance?"

Looking at the captain, Li Fan asked.

Facing the first officer's question, Ding Deyong just smoked a cigarette quietly, staring at the sea, he did not speak, only spoke after taking a deep breath.

"Isn't it? Well, let's not talk about this one"

Staring at the sea, Ding Deyong suddenly grinned.

"Actually, after learning that Datang declared war on Britain, I was also very excited, because we all know that war will change many things, thousands of officers will emerge who are willing to sacrifice for the country, and many outstanding young people will become Army! Maybe... Maybe one day I will witness the birth of the true national spirit in China!"

After that, Ding Deyong fell silent, and Li Fan was also silent. The two of them looked at the sea thoughtfully, as if they saw the distant motherland, where, on the battlefield going south, those who were armed with the "national spirit" The young people who got up are fighting hard. Maybe those young people will change that country...

Just when this thought came to their minds, suddenly, several columns of smoke appeared on the distant sea, and a sharp-eyed sailor shouted loudly after seeing the columns of smoke.

"Captain, I found multiple smoke columns, at least twenty of them, and the heading should be south!"

Ding Deyong hastily shouted at the shouts of the crew.

"Quick, send a telegram immediately..."

Almost at the same time, a destroyer was heading towards them at full speed in the distance, and the electromechanical officer of the merchant ship directly sent a telegram in clear code - "Spot the US fleet, heading due south".

The telegram was also intercepted by the coalition fleet. After receiving the news, Fisher frowned slightly.

The fleet was exposed, which was to be expected, he thought for a while and then said.

"Okay, the prelude to the era has begun..."

The new book "People in Daming, I'm a Faint Lord" will be released soon, and I implore everyone to continue to support!Thank you! ! !A book friend group has been established: 739209015, everyone is welcome to join and discuss the plot of the new book together.